Consequences of Love
by NevilleLongbottomsGirl
Summary: It was a known fact that Draco hated Hermione, but what will change if he admits that he actually likes her?
1. Chapter 1

Draco had teased Hermione from their first day at Hogwarts, had hated her and even thought he despised her. He hated her frizzy hair, her buck teeth, her annoying know-it-all voice, and, most of all, her muggle-born status. But in their third year he realized something that he never would have thought possible, he actually really liked her. He thought it was just a fluke in his system, he couldn't be one of the diseased ones. His parents would disown him, kick him out, and never speak to him again if it were true.

Draco was at Kings Cross Station with his family. Right before he was supposed to board he decided to ask his parents the real consequences of being in love with a muggle-born. "Father?"

"Yes Draco." Lucius answered as they walked toward the entrance to the train.

"I was just thinking, the family disowned and ostracized Aunt Andromeda because she married a muggle-born, right?"

"Quiet!" he answered. "This is not something we say in public!"

"Because we don't want people to know that we disowned her?"

"Because we don't want people to know that we are related to her." Just as he said this, Lucius pushed Draco onto the train and the doors closed. Draco walked towards the compartment that he and Crabbe and Goyle always shared thinking about the consequences of being with a muggle-born. _But I'm not even sure I like her._

A few months later

"You vile, loathsome, evil little cockroach." As she punched him he knew, he definitely liked Hermione.

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	2. Chapter 2

"Draco!" Just them Hermione jumped on him for a huge hug. "I missed you so much! I can't believe summer was that long." She let go and gave him a kiss. It was the best kiss he could have ever imagined. When she pulled away, it sounded as though she had never stopped to kiss him, but he could feel it on his lips. "I was thinking we could have a picnic by the lake and then go cuddle up in the library. Draco. Draco! DRACO!"

Draco woke up to his mom shaking him and shouting his name. "DRACO! Its time to get ready to leave. The train leaves in three hours and you still have to finish packing and we have to get you to the station. Your father and I will meet you downstairs in an hour."

"Yes mother." It had all been a dream...even the kiss. But after how last year ended he couldn't imagine Hermione wanting to run into his arms. Only one more year left before he has to face the facts and admit to himself that he will never see her again.

Two hours and three trunks later he had finally finished packing. He cast Leviosa on the trunks and began to walk down the stairs. When he was halfway down he heard his parents whispering. They sounded worried.

"Narcissa, are you sure he was mumbling the mud-blood's name? Maybe he was saying 'her I need.'" Draco didn't know what they were talking about. Who would be whispering Hermione's name?

"No, it was definitely her name."

"Then we can't let him go to school, what if he starts to mumble her name in his dorm room? It will be a disaster! The dark lord will be furious! We have to keep him home."

"Lucius, we cannot keep him home, that would be even worse. The'll wonder what happened to him and start asking questions. We'll just talk to Draco about it, he'll understand and we'll all be okay."

Draco couldn't believe he had been talking in his sleep, especially that he was saying Hermione's name. He had to be careful if he was going to be able to stay at Hogwarts to try and win her over.

He walked down the remaining steps and called out to his parents. "I'm all ready now, we can go."

"Oh, Draco," his mother jumped. "We didn't hear you coming." He felt guilty that he had startled them, they both have been jumpy since the dark lord had come back.

"We'll just have apparate there since you took so long. Let's go." His father grabbed his and his mother's arms and apparated the three of them and the trunks to the train station.

They were right by the train entrance and Lucius put the trunks on the train.

"Draco, this is going to be the best year of school. Its going to be your last year and you'll be able to do almost anything you want now that the dark lord is in charge of the school." His mother was trying to lighten the mood before she told him that she heard him this morning.

"Thanks mum. And I know that I was mumbling in my sleep this morning, but don't worry, it won't happen again." This seemed to pacify them enough to keep them from pressing the subject.

"Lucius, do you have anything you want to say to Draco?"

His father looked like he was far away, but he came back to tell Draco, "Um...study hard and don't give the new instructors a hard time." Draco already knew that none of the instructors would do anything to him, not now that Dumbledore wasn't headmaster. But this was his last year to see Hermione, so it would be a good year either way.


	3. Chapter 3

She's gone. She isn't here. How could he let this happen? He should have known that she wasn't going to be there, she was one of the top three most wanted students. Draco was sitting in the library - her favorite place - just to feel closer to her.

He couldn't believe he had been such a muggle about it. He slumped into his chair, he was defeated. He would never see her again.

_Unless...unless I went to look for her._ He _had_ to go look for her.

He shot out of his chair and ran out of the library and through the corridors towards the Slytherin common room. He made it halfway before he realized that he couldn't leave. He wouldn't be allowed to leave the grounds without permission. He could always just use Polyjuice Potion to change into his mother and tell Professor Snape that she needs Draco to come home. But even if he was able to pull that off, he didn't know where Hermione would be. There were a few places he could think of, but if she wasn't there, how would he proceed?

_Well, there is only one way to find out I guess. _He continued walking and went up to his room to find some of the things he would need to make a Polyjuice Potion.

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Well, that's the third chapter. I'm sorry its short, but I didn't want to jump into the next part too quickly :) I hope everything is liking the story so far. It would be awesome if I could get 5 reviews before I finish chapter 4 (so, about 24 hours). I'll keep updating as fast as I can :) review and favorite! :D


	4. Chapter 4

A month later, Draco looked at the cauldron in disgust. He hoped his mother's essence would look better than this. He dropped the piece of his mother's hair, that he got off his coat, into the cauldron and it turned clear. After he picked up a goblet and scooped up some of the water-like substance, he took three big gulps. It tasted like honey and lemon. Just as soon as Draco put the cup down he felt himself changing, his feet were getting smaller, he was shrinking, and his hair was growing at a rapid rate.

When he felt the changes slow and come to a stop, he reached next to him in the small broom closet and grabbed the clothes he had bought at Hogsmeade. As he walked out, he tested the heels. _Why do girls put themselves through this torture?_ he thought as he tripped down the hallway. If he didn't pull himself together and walk smoothly like his mother, his cover will be broken.

"Hey, you there! Where do you think you are going?" Draco froze as he heard Filch's voice behind him.

Then he remembered that he looked like his mother, so he could tell Filch off without Filch getting angry. Then he swiveled around and began to give Filch a piece of his - his mother's mind. "Is that any of your concern? But if you must know I am going to see my good friend Professor Snape, the headmaster. Now, if you would stop worrying about me and work on actually making sure that this school is safe for my son and his friends, that would be a great improvement."

Filch was stunned, "Righ-right away, madam." He scurried off in the same way he came.

Walking away, Draco smiled to himself. He had just done what every student has wanted to do since their first day at Hogwarts. But as soon as he turned the corner to the corridor to Snape's office his smile faded, Snape was heading towards his office from the other way.

"Severus." Draco called out timidly. Professor Snape looked back at him.

"Narcissa? What are you doing here?" Snape looked confused. "I just saw you at the entrance."


	5. Chapter 5

"I...uh..." what was he going to say? If his mum had just been here, how was he going to say that "she" came back? Snape was beginning to become suspicious, Draco could see it in his face. "I just remembered..." that was it, "I just remembered I had something else to talk to you about."

"Oh, well, why don't you come upstairs into my office and we can discuss it up there." Snape looked Draco up and down and seemed to accept that he was Narcissa and began to walk towards the stone gargoyle. When he turned around, Draco let out the breath he had been unknowingly holding since Snape walked up.

"Evanescence." Draco thought that was a strange password, but pushed that thought aside as he went over his plan in his head as they walked up the steps.

When they got up to the office, Snape sat down behind his desk and offered Draco the seat across from him.

"So, what is this all about?" He leaned back in his chair, seemingly comfortable, while Draco was practically shaking.

"Well, Lucius and I were thinking about taking Draco out of school for a few months to...to take a family trip before he finishes school." He hoped Snape believed it.

"A vacation in the middle of the semester? That is...quite odd."

"I know, Severus, but we wanted to spend more time as a family after...what happened."

Snape took Draco's hands, still clueless to the fact that he wasn't Narcissa. "Narcissa, it's ok, I understand." He looked at Draco sympathetically. "Do you want me to send him down now?"

Draco's pulse was racing now. "No, no. I'll go up and talk to him and then see myself out." Draco stood up quickly and started towards the stairs.

"Alright, I'll send him on the train in the morning." Snape stood up and walked towards Draco. "And don't worry about Lucius, everything will be better soon." He Draco a hug.

"Thank you, Severus." _What is he talking about?_

Draco ran down the stairs and through the corridors as fast as his heels would let him, which was not that fast. He made it to the broom closet just in time for him to be himself again.

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I hoped you liked Chapter 5. This one was a little more difficult for me to write, I hit a tiny writing block. But I hope you caught what I did with the password ;) Please follow and review! :)


	6. Chapter 6

Draco didn't have much time to think about what Professor Snape had said about his father, he had to go pack his things. He decided he was going to keep his trunks in the forbidden forest and only bring his bag.

He went down to the kitchen to get food that he could pack, snuck into the infirmary to grab bandages and creams for emergencies, and went back up to his dormitory to pack some clothes.

After an hour, he had muggle clothes, a cloak, normal clothes, the food he got from the kitchen, and the emergency kit he had put together. He put aside clothes that would go well for train clothes but were also useful to live in for the next few days. He knew it was going to be difficult to go from a warm bed and hot showers to sleeping on the ground and not getting a shower for weeks, probably months. But he was doing this for Hermione, who was definitely worth it.

He tried to sleep early that night, but sleep was far away. He couldn't stop worrying about the next morning and the months to come. If he didn't do this just right he could be taken out by You-Know-Who. And even if he found Hermione and did it al right, there was a huge chance that she would never listen to him. He knew he had changed, but she would still look at him as the guy who let in the Death Eaters last year that killed Dumbledore and injured many people.

When sleep finally found him, it was restless. He dreamed of Death Eaters running after Hermione and him, but as he turned to her to tell her to keep going she morphed into his mother telling him to run faster. He woke up soaked in sweat and feeling more tired than he had been the night before.

_Today is the day_, he thought. _Hopefully I make it past Professor Snape._

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I'm going to put the whole day into the next chapter, so it will be a lot longer :) I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Please tell me what you think with a review so I know that everyone still wants me to write more :) please review and follow/favorite


	7. Chapter 7

Making it past Snape was actually the easy part.

Snape had sent for Draco to meet him in his office and now they were both in the same positions they were in the day before. The only difference was that Snape knew that it was Draco that he was sitting across from. "Draco, Filch here is going to take you to the train." Draco's hope fell, Filch wasn't going to let him get away with anything. "The train will leave at ten, so he'll meet you in front of the Great Hall at nine."

Walking down the steps, Draco checked the time. It was eight. That meant he had an hour to bring his trunks down to the Forbidden Forrest and go back to his dormitory and grab his bag to meet Filch by the Great Hall. Hopefully he could do all of that.

He ran down to the Slytherin common room and was stopped by Crabbe and Goyle.

"We heard you were leaving today," Goyle said. "We were surprised to hear this from someone else, since we were supposed to be your best mates."

Draco didn't have enough time to talk about his relationship with the two of them. He needed to say something to get him out of this. But what could he say that would get the both of them off his back. Then he remembered their favorite thing.

"I know, I'm sorry. But to make it up to you guys, why don't we meet at the Three Broomsticks and grab some lunch later? My train doesn't leave until this afternoon, so we can meet around noon. My treat." He knew that Crabbe and Goyle wouldn't know the time that he was leaving, they wouldn't have cared enough to listen to that news.

Even before Crabbe said anything, Draco knew he had them by the looks on their faces. "Alright, that sounds fun."

"Great."Draco left them standing there with stupid looks of happiness on their faces and ran to his room.

He quickly casted Leviosa on his trunks and then let them fall to the floor when he realized a huge problem. If Filch was going to take him to the train, he would need to bring his trunks with him so it didn't look suspicious. He'd have to hide them somewhere else. He could take them on the train, apparate to his home and leave them there, and then apparate back into his compartment of the train. That was the only way he could think of pulling it off. Unless he just didn't apparate back onto the train. That way he would eliminate the need for getting off the train. That's what he would do.

A little before nine, Draco went down to meet Filch. When he got there, Filch wasn't in sight. He decided to grab something to eat while he waited, so he walked into the Great Hall. He saw Pansy sitting at the Slytherin table and walked right back out. Unfortunately, she saw him.

"Draco! Draco!" She screamed as she ran towards him. "I heard you were leaving. You could have said goodbye." He was disgusted with her fake sad face.

"I'm sorry, I thought you wouldn't want to say goodbye after what happened last time I saw you."

Over the summer, Pansy had come to Malfoy Manor. Draco's mother had been nice to her, she didn't see the Dark Lord, and his father was out on business, so nothing Dark happened. But when Draco told her he didn't want a relationship, she flipped out. She began screaming at him and calling him a mudblood and scum and all the other terrible words she could think of. It ended with her storming out and apparating right as she slammed the door. It didn't bother Draco if she hated him, he never really liked her. What did bother him was that he was trying to avoid everyone right now and she was ruining that.

"Well, I thought it over, and I know you'll want one soon, so it's ok." She smiled.

"Pansy, I'm not going to want a relationship for a while. Why don't you find someone that likes you too?" Oops.

"DRACO MALFOY! I AM A GREAT PERSON AND YOU ARE GOING TO REGRET NOT BEING WITH ME! YOU...YOU...TWAT!"

"Pansy Parkinson!" Professor McGonagall was the other side of the Great Hall. "We do not use that kind of language. 20 points from Slytherin and a detention for you Miss Parkinson."

Pansy glared at both Draco and Professor McGonagall and stormed off.

"Move along, Mr. Malfoy. I think Mr. Filch is waiting for you right outside." Draco had never been more happy to hear those words.

"Thank you, Professor McGonagall." She was surprised, Draco had never said that to her. He was surprised at himself too, but this is what love does to people.

He walked out of the Great Hall and met with Filch.

"You're late. Let's go." They walked out of the castle and towards the train.

When Filch and Draco arrived at the train station Filch looked at Draco. "I think you can take it from here." He started to limp back the way he came, leaving Draco stunned.

This would be easier than he thought. He boarded the train and found an empty compartment, which wasn't difficult at this time of you. He was practically alone on the train.

He decided that he would get some sleep before he apparated, might as well rest while he can.

Draco awoke to a screech. He had slept the whole ride! It was dark outside and he needed to leave quickly so he could find a place to sleep.

He quickly changed into muggle clothes, cast Leviosa on his trunks, grabbed his bag, and exited the train. He found a cart to carry his trunks in the muggle world and went through the wall.

To his relief, it wasn't busy in the station. There were maybe a few dozen people walking around and only a handful of employees. Draco decided to find a place to apparate while still in the station, so he wouldn't have the problem of his trunks.

He found a small broom closet, grabbed hold of everything, and apparated to the closet of his bedroom back in Malfoy Manor. He didn't want to apparate in his room and then have his mother or father or a servant be in there and blow the whole thing.

Once he was there, he didn't waste time. He let go of his trunks and was going to apparate right back out, but where was he going to apparate?

After thinking for a few minutes, he decided to go buy camp supplies and then find a place to set up camp for the night. After sleeping on the train, he wasn't tired anymore, but he knew that if he tried to go to Hermione's house tonight he would only run into her parents or her.

He apparated to a camp store that he heard his father talk about a few times. He bought a magical expanding tent, a electrical lantern, and a few wizard survival supplies.

While he was waiting in line he picked up a magazine and began to find a place to apparate to for the night. He found a beautiful forrest to set up camp and apparated there after he was finished paying.

Among the trees, Draco found a beautiful clearing and set his tent up the muggle way. He felt like this was the best way to pass the time and tire himself out so he could get some sleep that night. Three hours later, he finally finished the tent, activated the expansion, and stepped in. Inside was a beautiful one room apartment. Their was a kitchen area, a bedroom area, and a small bathroom off to the side. He didn't bother with looking around too much, instead he took a shower and fell on his bed and into a dreamless sleep.

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A lot of you said that you wanted longer chapters, so I decided that's what I would do :)

I was wondering if you guys could be ever so kind and give me 5 constructive reviews before my next update? If you could that would be amazing! :) please review and follow/favorite :)


	8. Chapter 8

Draco woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed. It was the best sleep he had experienced in a long time.

He decided to keep his camp here for a while, so he packed up his backpack with a few things he thought he would need to search Hermione's house.

Before he apparated, he tried to remember where his dad's papers had said Hermione lived. It took him almost no time at all to remember, so he was gone in less than a minute.

The house looked comfortable, not huge like his own home. He wondered what it would be like to live there. Hermione would be waiting for him when he got home from work. He would walk through the door and kiss her. And then she would wave her wand and dinner would be ready in an instant. They would both sit down to eat together, unlike his parents who ate at different times.

A car passing the house took him out of his perfect daydream. He shook it off and quickly walked toward the door. Unsure of how much time he would have, he put his hand and on the doorknob and made it try to look like he was unlocking the door with a key while he cast Alohamora. As he walked in, he hoped it looked like he owned the place.

The first thing he noticed was that they pictures were missing one important thing, Hermione. Just to make sure that all the pictures were missing her, he looked around the whole house. The only clue he could find that Hermione ever lived here was her room. It looked just how he imagined it would, perfectly clean and organized. She had pictures of Ron, Harry, Neville, Luna, and Ginny all over the place. These pictures didn't have her in them either, but at a closer inspection he could find all the places that she should have been. Between Harry and Ron in one picture, hugging Ginny in another, the empty spot in the Dumbledore's Army picture.

He picked up a picture with the absence of any human in it. He looked closely found the faint outline of magic that showed where Hermione had been. If she was still there, she would have been sitting on a chair in what seemed to be the Gryffindor common room with her cat on her lap. Without her the picture was so empty. He put the fame back down and studied the rest of her pictures. The lack of Hermione all over the house stunned him, there was no way she would be coming back here.

Draco left Hermione's room and did a once over of the rest of the house, just to be sure that she wasn't there. As he left the house, he looked back to make sure he didn't leave any evidence that he had been there.

Back at his campsite, he tried to think of what his next move would be. More than half the day was already gone, so he had to either figure something out fast or call it a day. He couldn't think of anywhere to go that would make sense. The one place he could think of was a place that he really didn't want to go to. After going over what could happen, he decided he had to do it. He packed up his campsite and apparated to the Weasley house.

Since he couldn't just walk into the house and ask if Hermione was there, he had to stake out for a few days and wait to see if she came or went from the house. He set up his tent the magical way this time so he could watch the house. He decided to use the charms his mum had taught him to cover his campsite, he didn't want anyone to know he was here. As he was finishing with the charms he saw someone out of the corner of his eye. He quickly turned his head to see if it was Hermione, but to his disappointment it was only Mrs. Weasley entering the house.

After the first hour, his stomach began to growl. It was then that he realized that he hadn't eaten since that morning. He went to grab his stash of food and chose an apple to snack on before the family went to sleep and he decided to go to the nearby town for a real meal.

The next few hours were boring, no one came or went from the house. Draco had caught himself almost dozing off a few times. It was well past midnight when the last night went out in the Weasley household. At that point, Draco was so tired and hungry that he couldn't decide what to do first. In the end, he grabbed some crackers from his bag and collapsed on his bed.

The sounds of talking woke him up. He jumped out of bed, afraid that he had been caught. He listened closely and realized that the people were not talking to him.

"I heard that Malfoy left school, supposedly went on some trip with his parents." He heard Fred say.

"But didn't we just see them pass by our shop? They didn't look like they had a bouncing weasel with them." The twins laughed at that. Draco hated that nickname.

"Just as long as he isn't skipping school to try and find Harry."

"I heard that he wanted to try and find him first so he could get the rewards from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. But I think they should be ok, I doubt that little twit would want to go camping in any woods." Camping in woods? He would need a miracle to find them now.

"Wanna race back to the house on our brooms?"

George laughed at Fred's question. "Of course I want to race! But you have to know by now that you are going to lose." Draco heard them mounting their brooms and zooming off.

So, now that he knew that Hermione wasn't here, he just had to find the specific forests that they were staying in. He tried to remember if Hermione had mentioned any forests when he heard her talking. Then he remembered the pictures of the forests in Hermione's house. There were a few that he could recall, but he had to start somewhere.

He quickly packed up for the second time in the past 24 hours and apparated to one of the forests he had seen in Hermione's house.

Setting up camp was mechanical for him now. The spells became second nature. Luckily it was only about ten in the morning, so he had time to roam and see if he could find Hermione in this forest. He grabbed his bag and set off.

For the rest of the day, he walked around the forest and snacked on his apple and crackers. He hadn't come across any signs of human life until late afternoon. A few men were walking towards him. As they got closer he could tell that they weren't wizards. They were talking about football and the government.

"Hey look, another camper. Hello mate!" One of the men called to him.

"Hello, you guys camping out here too?" Draco didn't know what to say, he had never had a conversation with muggles who knew nothing about the wizard world. His father or mother always handled them.

"Oh yeah, we've been out here for a few days now. You?" The second man asked.

"I just got here today."

"Have you seen the waterfall yet? It is beautiful. If Martha ever agreed to go camping with me, I'm taking her to that waterfall! What about you kid, you have a girl?" These men seemed very friendly to a person they just met.

"Me? No, I'm on the search for one though."

"Well, your not going to find her out here." Draco finally understood why they were so friendly, they were sloshed.

"Well mates, I'm going to continue my searching."

"We'll come with you! The names Sam and this is my friend Eric." The first one, Sam, said.

"That's really nice, but I think this is one I'm going to have to do myself." Draco tried to get them to leave him alone, but they weren't listening to him.

"We'll find you a great girl!" Eric slurred.

"She'll be pretty too."

"Gorgeous!"

"Thanks, mates, but I already have a girl in mind." This stopped them both.

Sam looked surprised. "Oh? What does she look like?"

"She...well...she's the most beautiful person I have ever laid eyes on. Her luscious brown, curly hair perfectly frames her lovely face. And she is the most intelligent person I have ever met. She could answer any question in two seconds flat." Draco had lost himself in his description of Hermione. He was too lost to notice that Sam and Eric had snuck off with his bag with all of his food in it. While he was upset that they had taken his bag, e was pleasantly surprised not to see them and for the rest of his walk he thought of Hermione.

As the sun began to go down, Draco decided to apparate back to his campsite. When he got back, he realized that he had no food to eat. But after a long day of walking, he decided to worry about that in the morning and fell onto his bed, falling right asleep.

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I hope you liked the chapter :) I am going to be starting another Harry Potter story soon with an original character. I'll put that one up as soon as I can :) and I will continue to make the chapters longer if that's what everyone wants :) please review and follow/favorite!


	9. Chapter 9

The next morning, Draco packed up and apparated to the next forest he saw in the picture in Hermione's room. He felt like he shouldn't stay in one place for too long, in case snatchers were looking in the forests. After he did the routine of unpacking and setting up, he decided to go to a nearby town and find their supermarket to buy some food since they muggles stole all of his the day before. When he got there, he had no idea what to buy besides apples and crackers, so wandered around the store. He passed by plenty of ingredients and wished he had asked his mum to teach him how to cook. He ended up leaving the store with water, apples, oatmeal, and crackers.

The rest of the day was the same as the day before. He roamed around the forest all day and found no sign of Hermione. The one good thing about the day was that he didn't run into any more muggles.

His search ended up being pitiful. He had searched seven forests in a week and there had been no sign of any human life. This was the last forest that he remembered from Hermione's room. He had spent all day roaming around and stopped to relax for a little while and watch the sun go down.

Then he heard it, a voice-her voice. It stunned him so much that he couldn't move for a few seconds. He tried to make out what she was saying, but he couldn't hear her so well. He started towards the direction he heard her. All of a sudden she was cut off, not in a way that meant she stopped talking, but in a magical barrier way. He got as close as he dared to where her voice stopped and hid behind a tree and waited for her to reappear. An hour later he saw Weasley furiously emerge from the barrier and apparate a few feet from Draco.

He figured Hermione wouldn't be leaving the barrier any time soon, so he got comfortable behind the tree and fell asleep.

He was woken up around 4 am to the sound of crying right on the other side of his tree. He didn't want to be figured out, so he slowly and quietly peeked around to the other side and saw Hermione sitting there with her hands covering her face.

He was so overcome with the urge to comfort her that before he could stop himself he was standing up and walking towards her. He stopped a meter from her, just as she noticed that she wasn't alone. She slowly looked up at him and was surprised.

"I know I'm not the person you wanted to see when you looked up, but I was thinking that you could use a friend right about now." Draco was cautious while he was talking to her, there was no reason for her to hold back in hexing him.

"You are not my friend Malfoy." Even though the words were hurtful, there was no anger in her voice, only pain.

"Well, it seems like none of your other friends are here."

"Harry is right over...Harry is in our tent. And if you don't go away I will call him." She looked like she was trying to hide something.

"Listen Hermione, I'm just trying to be nice. I saw Weasley run off and then heard you crying, so I figured you would want someone to talk to."

"What are you even doing here?" How was he going to explain that he has been looking for her for weeks because he has liked her since their third year? That was a lot to explain and she didn't look like she was in the mood to hear it.  
"I'm just...I was just...um..."

"Are you here to turn us in? Because there is nothing illegal about camping." There was real fear in her voice now, like he as going to turn them into the snatchers.

"I'm just here to make sure you are ok, I heard you guys weren't planning on coming back to school and wanted to make sure nothing happened to you."

"And I'm just supposed to believe that you're not here to turn us in or kill us?"

"Hermione, I swear I'm not! I'm done with all that."

"No, I can't believe that. Stupify!"

When Draco woke up again he was alone and no where near where he was when Hermione stunned him. He quickly realized he would have to do more than just try to comfort Hermione to win her over, he would have to do more.

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I'm so sorry about not posting for a few days, I had health problems I had to address. But, to help with my health issues and keep writing longer chapters, I've decided I'm going to post every other day. That way I can have more time to write :) also, I apologize for making this chapter shorter than the past 2, the next one will be longer, I pinky promise! And I'm going to be starting a new story soon (that one will be posted on the days that this one isn't) :) please review and follow/favorite! And look out for my new story :)


	10. Chapter 10

After he woke around five, Draco went to search for where he saw Hermione. He finally found it, two hours later, but couldn't find a trace of her. He even went through what would have been the barrier, nothing. He admitted defeat and started to walk towards where he thought his camp would be.

After four more hours of walking, he made it back to his campsite. He was beginning to wonder if he had just imagined seeing her and just fell asleep deep in the woods. Doubting himself, he thought about what could have really happened. He could have gotten so desperate to see her that when he sat down to relax towards the end of the night, he fell asleep and dreamed of her. He shook those thoughts out of his head. He _knew_ he had seen her and had been so close he could have touched her. Wishing that he had, he began to pack up.

Once everything was all packed he realized that he didn't know where he was going to go.

_I could always go back to school and say that my trip was over. But then they might have already realized that my mum wasn't the one who said I could go. _With no other choice, he decided that he would risk going back to Hermione's house to find another forest to try.

When he arrived, the house looked exactly as it had the last time. He walked up to the front door and proceeded to cast Alohamora on the lock and heard the door unlock. As he opened the door and stepped inside, he saw that absolutely nothing had changed about the house. Nothing had been moved, nothing had been touched, no one had sat on any of the couches. It seemed strange that her parents weren't here. He shook it off and went to the stairs. He walked into Hermione's room and immediately knew that he hadn't imagined seeing her last night, she smelled exactly like this.

He looked at all of her pictures and realized that he had been to all of these forests besides one. Underneath the picture was a caption, "Dad and I camping in Dean's Forest". He took one last look at the picture and dashed out of her room, down the stairs, and out the door. Even though it seemed like no one had been home in weeks, he didn't want to risk them coming home now. As he apparated to the forest in the picture, he thought of how Hermione must have felt to see him after he had hidden his feelings for her with hatred.

Hermione's POV

_How could Malfoy think that I would ever want him to comfort me?! He has been nothing but mean to me throughout our whole time at Hogwarts! And now that I'm on the run, he decides to show sympathy? _Hermione couldn't make sense of it.

"He did seem like he genuinely cared about me. But he was always calling me a mudblood." She was pacing in their small tent and pivoting every time she changed her mind about Draco. "He didn't try to hex me or even go to grab his wand. But he also didn't apologize for six years of tormenting me."

"Hermione, Draco is a spoiled, self-centered twat. Why would he be out here in the forest in the first place? He is probably looking for people who are hiding as to not get arrested, like we are." Hermione had to agree with Harry on the spoiled, self-centered part, but after how Draco acted towards her, she doubted he was doing anything for Voldemort out in the woods.

"But he was just so...nice! It doesn't make sense why he wouldn't have grabbed me right then and turned me in. He's never cared about how we felt before, but it was different this time."

"He probably just wanted to wait until you had your back turned and then attack."

"But then why did he even walk up to me in the first place? Why didn't he just attack while I was vulnerable and couldn't see him?"

Harry didn't have an answer for that one. Usually Malfoy wouldn't have thought twice about attacking Hermione, but this time he didn't even try to.

"Harry, he even gave me an opening to hex him. He didn't even try to go for his wand when I got mine out. I don't think he even knew that I had taken my wand out! Does that sound like someone who was ready to attack?"

"Well, I guess we just hope he doesn't tell anyone that we are out here." That was the end of the conversation for Harry, he went back to his list of places to look for Horcruxes. But Hermione couldn't stop thinking about it. Malfoy hadn't tried to attack and an attack didn't seem to be on his mind. _What is he up to?_

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__I added some of Hermione's POV (I know some of you said you wanted that) :) I hope you liked this chapter :) please review and follow/favorite! :)


	11. Chapter 11

Hermione's POV

For the next few weeks, Hermione couldn't get what Draco did off of her mind. She went back and forth between being on his side and completely loathing him. She couldn't decide what she wanted to think about him. It didn't help that Harry always wanted to talk about the Horcruxes. When they weren't talking about Horcruxes, he had this vacant look in his eyes. Hermione couldn't get him to talk about anything else and knew it was because of Ron.

It had been weeks after she saw Draco, and Hermione and Harry were a late eating dinner in the tent. It was another quiet dinner where only polite chatter could be heard. But, as Harry was walking back to the table after grabbing seconds when Hermione couldn't take the silence anymore. "Harry, I think we need to talk about Ron and Draco and everything that happened." Hermione blurted.

The sudden outburst shocked Harry; he jumped and the stew he was holding spilled all over the floor. Hermione quickly got off her chair and knelt on the ground to clean up the mess. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up."

"It's ok. I didn't realize it was bugging you so much. I figured everything was ok since you haven't tried to talk about it."

"I didn't want to upset you with talking about it. I know it's hard for you to deal with Ron's abandon-I mean, leaving." Slipping up wasn't her biggest worry, Harry had already gotten back the vacant look in his eyes. "It's alright, we don't have to talk about it. I'll figure it out myself. So, where are we going to look for the next Horcrux?"

"I don't know. I think...I think I'm going to take a walk."

Draco's POV

A strange, blinding light startled Draco. The light was moving at a leisurely pace, but was also jumping up and down. He had no clue what it could be, but he decided to go check it out.

After he got close, the light vanished. All of a sudden it was incredibly dark. Once his eyes adjusted he saw Harry, barley clothed. Just as Draco was about to call out to Harry, Harry jump into a pond of ice water. Draco was frozen in shock. Thirty seconds passed and Harry didn't resurface. Out of all the things that Draco could do with magic in this situation, that didn't even cross his mind when he ran and jumped into the pond to save Harry.

The water was so cold that Draco couldn't move for a few seconds after he got in. But he knew if he didn't move quickly, both him and Harry would be goners for sure. He opened his eyes, even though it stung, and found Harry directly beneath him. As soon as he saw Harry, he noticed that something was choking him. This alarmed him and made him move more quickly. He quickly grabbed Harry and noticed a sword in Harry's hand. In a split second, he decided he would grab the sword too. As they ascended, Harry seemed to get heavier and heavier.

When they finally broke the surface, Draco pushed Harry out of the water and onto the snow. He then threw the sword next to where he pushed Harry and crawled out. Both of them were coughing up the water they had just swallowed, it was a couple minutes before either of them could talk.

Finally, Draco spoke, "What the bloody hell were you doing, Potter?"

"I was trying to get the sword of Gryffindor out of that pond," Harry coughed as he put his clothes back on. "And then you came along."

"If you haven't noticed, I just saved your life."

"Why?! You hate me!" Harry spat. They both glared at each other.

After a while, Harry's face changed from hatred into gratitude. "You know, it doesn't matter why you saved my life, thank you for doing it."

Draco's face softened. "You're welcome. But why don't we put on some dry clothes. My tent is...well..."

"What's wrong? Lost your way?" Harry laughed.

"I came from that way, I think."

"While you are thinking about it, why don't we head towards my tent and I'll...I'll lend you some clothes." Draco knew it was just as hard for Harry to act nice towards him as it was for Draco to act nice towards Harry.

"That sounds good." Harry lead Draco towards his tent.

When they got there Hermione ran out, took one look at the two of them, and began to freak out.

"Harry, what happened? Why is Draco here? Why do you have the sword of Gryffindor? Why are you both soaking wet? What is going on? Are you ok?"

"Hermione! Hermione, stop. I'll explain everything after you relax and Draco and I get into some dry and warm clothes." Harry reassured her as the three of them walked through the invisible barrier and into the tent.

Once everyone was dry, warm, and relaxing beside the fire, Harry started the explanation. "I saw the sword in a pond nearby and jumped in to grab the it. When I got to the bottom and grabbed the sword, the Horc-locket pulled me down to the bottom. I couldn't swim back up and all of a sudden Draco was pulling me out of the water."

"The locket tried to drown you? Harry, we need to destroy that thing now!" Hermione began to freak out again.

"Actually, I already thought about that." Hermione looked at Harry expectantly. "And I think Draco should do it."

"Well, that would mean he would have a reason to be on our side. He would be rejected by the other side."

"And I think that he is the one who is supposed to do it. It would make sense that the locket would try to drown you with him near."

Draco had heard enough. "Wait, wait a second," Harry and Hermione stopped talking. "What is so special about this locket that we need to destroy it? And why do I have to be the one to do it?"

Hermione took a deep breath. "Draco, I'm going to tell you something that you cannot tell anyone. And after I tell you, you can't leave."

"Alright, I won't tell and I won't leave." He was getting fed up with them talking about him that he was ready to promise anything.

"Harry and I have been looking for Horcruxes, pieces of You-Know-Who's soul. We need to destroy them so that Harry can kill him."

For the second time that night, Draco was frozen in shock.


	12. Chapter 12

Draco hadn't said anything in a few minutes, he just stared at the ground.

"Draco? Are you ok?" Hermione had begun to worry. Harry seemed to be getting upset that Draco was taking it this way, he was pacing around the tent.

"I-I don't und-I don't-I just don't understand how this going to work." Draco looked up. "I want to help, but I don't know what I can do."

The tension in the room dissipated. Harry looked relieved, "You can do a lot more than we can. If they don't know you are working with us, you can get us information from then inside. You just have to promise that you are definitely on our side."

"It's going to take us a while to trust you," Hermione added.

"I don't blame you for that, I don't think I would trust me either. But I will do whatever I need to." Draco sounded so eager to help.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, contemplating it, and then looked at Draco. Harry sighed, "I guess we can try to trust you." Draco perked up when Harry said that. "I just need you to tell me something."

"Anything."

"Is Ginny ok?" Harry didn't know if he wanted to hear the answer.

"She's fine. Not too much has changed back at the school, there are only a few new rules." Harry looked relieved, but Draco actually didn't know if Ginny was ok or not. He only said she was because he knew that Harry would make a stupid decision if he thought she wasn't ok.

After that, Harry was able to relax and Draco spent the rest of the night explaining what he knew about Voldemort's plans, which wasn't much.

After deciding it was time to go to bed, Hermione decided to ask the question Draco was dreading. "Why did you decide to leave Hogwarts and camp in the woods?"

He had no clue what to say, but he had to say something. "I...I decided that it wasn't right to be on the Dark Lord's side. He's evil," while saying this last part, Draco was looking at Hermione, "and I've been wrong this whole time."


End file.
